Squirt Frame
The first step is to build
the building form.  Make
sure it is true and
sturdy.  Next, you
building form.  

Make sure you attach in
a way that you can get
to your screws to
remove them once the
hull is built.

The frames here are
Mahogany and the
stem is 2 laminations of
3/4" plywood
Another angle.  Here
you can see the
reverse angle of the
stern a bit better.

You can also see the
unfinished - or should I
say unstarted - 1955
Century Resorter on
the trailer.

Building is much more
fun than restoring!
In order to bend the sheers, I found I would
need to steam the mahogany.  I figured this
out after breaking a board or two.  It is easier
than it sounds.

Here is my home-made steam bender.  I
bought a piece of 4" PVC and capped one
end.  I drilled 3/8"  holes all the way through
what would become the lower part of the
pipe.  Then I inserted 3" dowels through the
holes to create a platform for the wood to sit
on while steaming.

Without this, water will collect in the bottom of
the pipe and I did not want the wood sitting in
that pool of water.  Also, it lets the steam
surround the wood better.

The steamer is a $30 garment steamer from
Wal-Mart.  I stuffed towels in the end to seal
the steam in without creating pressure.

Some builders tell of how their PVC sagged.  
This is why I set it up on a 12' work bench
(two old 6' desks).  If you sit each end on a
saw horse, you probably will get a lot of sag
in the middle.


The 1st lamination of the sheers have been
installed following about an hour of steaming.

I installed a temporary block on the
breasthook to give the clamps an flat area to
clamp to.













I clamped everything down, let it cool
overnight and then epoxy and screw it in
place the next day.

The second lam of the sheer is clamped in
place here.
Here you see the second lamination of the
starboard sheer.  I could use 5 times as
many clamps as I have.  But I just rented a
1,500 sq ft "warehouse" and bought a bunch
of tools.  That's the best part about building
a boat - you have an excuse to buy more
tools.  More clamps are the next investment.

If you can tell, I twisted the chines from the
bow to the 1st frame thinking it would give me
less wood to fair when I reached the fairing
process.   

DON'T DO THAT!  

I am writing this after the fact so I found out
the hard way.  Let the wood take its
somewhat natural bend and attach it to the
stern with the correct angle.  I wound up
having to add material to the chines to have
enough to fair away to get the correct angle
when it came time to attach the planking.
A note about fairing the sheers and chines.
I realized after I installed the planking that I took no pictures of the fairing process.  It does not show up well
anyway.

The tools I found to be the most helpful were my hand-held power planer, my hand-held belt sander, and my
longboard pneumatic sander.  

I used a 2  1/2 foot by 6 inch piece of 1/4" plywood to measure the angles and make sure I got them to match
the bend of the plywood planking.  Sometimes I used a metal yardstick to check the bends as well as the highs
and lows of the chines and sheers.  Overall, it worked out well with only a couple of places where I had to add
thickened epoxy to fill the gaps.